Hawks Fly to Minneapolis in 6-5 OT Thriller

In front of a raucous crowd of 10,540 fans at Ralph Englestad Arena, UND pulled out a series win over the St. Cloud State Huskies 6-5 in overtime. the game was a back and forth affair throughout as neither side had a lead of more than one goal. Trevor Olson got the game winner in overtime on a shot that went in and out so fast it had to be reviewed. He now has three game winning goals in the past four games.

St Cloud State opened the scoring with a deflection goal from Nick Poehling 15:11 into the first period. 18:06 into the first period , Robby Jackson put the puck past Cam Johnson however, after a lengthy review, the goal was overturned due to St Cloud having too many men on the ice .During the play, Blake Winiecki took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to give UND a power play.

The Hawks would capitalize on the ensuing power play thanks to a strong wrist shot from St. Louis Blues prospect Austin Poganski 19:16 into the first period to tie the game.

53 seconds into the second period, Poganski whipped a perfect pass from the goal line to a wide open Tyson Jost on a shorthanded chance who did not miss his chance to stake UND to its first lead of the evening.

A bit later in the period, Blake Winiecki won a puck battle with multiple UND skaters below the UND goal line, got the puck to Robby Jackson, who then fired the puck to Patrick Newell. He made no mistake with his wide open chance and tied the game with 8:46 left in the second period.

Soon after the Newell tally, Brock Boeser would find a loose puck at the side of the net and tap it home to return UND to the lead 10:37 into the second period. The Hawks would take a 3-2 lead into the locker room after two periods.

The Huskies would battle back as 7:11 into the third period, John Lizotte fired a puck past a slip-sliding Cam Johnson to tie the game. Then shortly afterwords, Shane Gersich would capitalize on a three on zero breakaway to put UND up 4-3.

That lead did not last long, as John Lizotte would pot an unassisted tally to tie the game 1:02 after the Gersich Tally. Not much later, Nick Poehling would give St. Cloud its second lead of the night after numerous UND attempts to clear the puck. As the seesaw game continued, Christian Wolanin fired home a point shot to tie it up 15:58 into the third period. The score would remain this way till Olson ended it 07:38 into overtime.

UND will take on either Denver or Minnesota Duluth in Minneapolis next week in the Frozen Faceoff. Their opponent is contingent on the winner of the Western Michigan- Omaha series. Should Omaha win, the Hawks will take on Minnesota Duluth. Should Western Michigan win, UND will take on Denver.